By Purified water, that quintessential cornerstone of healthy living, plays a pivotal role in our daily life, much beyond mere hydration. But how often do we stop to consider the type of water we’re consuming and its potential effects on our health and wellbeing? In the broad spectrum of drinking waters, purified water holds a unique position, backed by a host of scientific evidence proving its superiority over spring water and distilled water for certain uses. But like all good things, it needs to be used judiciously to reap its full benefits.
Purified Water: A Scientific Perspective
Purified water undergoes a stringent process that removes chemicals, contaminants, bacteria, and viruses, ensuring it meets the highest standards for purity as per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. This distinguishes it from spring water, which, though natural, can contain harmful microorganisms and minerals, and distilled water, which is devoid of any minerals due to its rigorous distillation process.
Why Choose Purified Water Over Others?
The purification process provides a unique advantage: the ability to control and maintain the mineral content of water. This is crucial for your body’s daily mineral intake. When we contrast this with distilled water, it becomes clear that while distilled water is free from impurities, it also lacks beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium. This deprivation can lead to potential health risks like electrolyte imbalance and fast-tracked aging process. It call also lead to weaker bone structure due to the lack of calcium in the water if your diet does not account for this deficiency.
Spring water, though rich in minerals, runs the risk of containing harmful pathogens and contaminants. As such, purified water with a balanced mineral content stands out as a safer, healthier choice.
Usage and Potential Drawbacks
Purified water proves to be an ideal choice for daily hydration and cooking purposes. In some areas where clean water is lacked people are left to boil water which create a purified environment. In result, it aids in detoxifying your body, enhancing digestion, and promoting skin health. However, it’s critical to note that the purification process might eliminate some health-beneficial components like fluoride. Fluoride is added to public drinking water supplies in some regions to enhance dental health and decrease dental decay.
While it’s true that fluoridated water has significantly reduced tooth decay, especially in children, excess fluoride can be toxic, potentially causing harm to brain and nerve cells. Long-term exposure to high fluoride levels has been associated with learning, memory, and cognitive deficits. Another important factor to consider is the potential for the leaching of chemicals from plastic water bottles into the purified water, which can pose health risks. Therefore, storing purified water in glass bottles or high-quality, BPA-free plastic bottles is a safer choice.
In essence, purified water, used correctly, is an excellent choice that comes with a multitude of health benefits. However, it’s crucial to remain mindful of its potential drawbacks and understand that using purified water should be complemented by a balanced diet to ensure adequate intake of essential minerals. All water is not made the same, and for these reasons its best to understand the goals you are looking to accomplish with your health. That way you can plan consumption accordingly. Lastly, always store purified water safely and make informed decisions about your water sources, because at the end of the day, your health matters!
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References & Footnotes:
1. EPA Guidelines for Drinking Water, Environmental Protection Agency ↩
2. World Health Organization, Water-related diseases ↩
3. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Health risks from drinking demineralised water ↩
4. Mayo Clinic, Water: Essential to your body ↩
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Drinking Water FAQ ↩
6. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Nutrition and Hydration: Key Weapons to Fight Aging ↩
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Community Water Fluoridation ↩
8. Harvard School of Public Health, Impact of fluoride on neurological development in children ↩
9. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Cognitive Impairment and Risk Factors in Elderly People ↩
10. National Center for Biotechnology Information, The most plastic fantastic: the environmental and human health burdens of plastic. ↩
